Visitor Counter

Visitors Since Blog Created in March 2010

Click Below to:

Add Blog to Favorites

Coyotes-Wolves-Cougars.blogspot.com

Grizzly bears, black bears, wolves, coyotes, cougars/ mountain lions,bobcats, wolverines, lynx, foxes, fishers and martens are the suite of carnivores that originally inhabited North America after the Pleistocene extinctions.
This site invites research, commentary, point/counterpoint on that suite of native animals (predator and prey) that inhabited The Americas circa 1500-at the initial point of European exploration and subsequent colonization.
Landscape ecology, journal accounts of explorers and frontiersmen, genetic evaluations of museum animals, peer reviewed 20th and 21st century research on various aspects of our "Wild America" as well as subjective commentary from expert and layman alike. All of the above being revealed and discussed with the underlying goal of one day seeing our Continent rewilded.....Where big enough swaths of open space exist with connective corridors to other large forest, meadow, mountain, valley, prairie, desert and chaparral wildlands.....Thereby enabling all of our historic fauna, including man, to live in a sustainable and healthy environment. - Blogger Rick

$25 bounty on coyotes proposed in eastern Pa.

stargazette.com

This coyote seemed to pose for a trail camera on March 20 on Joseph Krovetcsz's property in Gillett, in Bradford County, Pa.

STROUDSBURG, Pa. (AP) — A state lawmaker is proposing a $25 bounty on coyotes to deal with what he calls an infestation in northeastern Pennsylvania.Rep. Mike Peifer, a Republican serving Monroe and Pike counties, has introduced legislation to allow the Pennsylvania Game Commission to offer the bounty.

State law already allows year-round coyote hunting, and Peifer says he wants to give hunters an incentive to bag the animals, which he said are preying on everything from house cats to deer.The measure wouldn't require the commission to implement the bounty but would allow it to do so where the animals are a problem, he said.

Because of the increase in predators, deer herds have taken refuge in rural developments, and a cull might allow residents to reduce the number of deer in their communities, he said."We no longer have deer herds in the big woods," Peifer said. "Instead, they're living by our swimming pools, under our decks and in our gardens, and that is attracting predators like coyotes into our communities, as well."

Game Commission spokesman Travis Lau said that there were an estimated 15,000 to 20,000 coyotes in the state a decade ago, but that last year more than twice as many — 40,000 — were killed by hunters.Mark Rutkowski, an enforcement officer with the commission, said that the image of a coyote pack hunting deer is a bit overblown, but that coyotes are still intelligent hunters who typically hunt in pairs.

"They're pretty smart predators," Rutkowski said. "Especially in a development with a lot of feral cats. They'll target an area like that. It's a food source."

The game commission, however, questions how effective such a bounty would be, saying decades-long coyote bounties in Western states had little effect. Officials say on the commission website that about 70 percent of the coyote population had to be removed each year to reduce the population, and even then the species has shown the ability to react by increasing litter size.

"A bounty system has never successfully eliminated or significantly reduced coyote populations anywhere in North America," the commission said. "Coyotes have a superior ability to adapt to a changing environment. Attempts to reduce coyote populations in western states using year-round poisoning, hunting and trapping resulted in millions of dollars being spent over many decades with little reduction in coyote numbers."That experience was in accord with the Pennsylvania Game Commission's own predator bounties in the 1900s, which "truly were a waste of money," the commission said.

Pine Ridge resident Lucy Paolucci said 21 cats disappeared from the subdivision in a few weeks last summer, but she's skeptical that coyotes were responsible and fears that a bounty would lead to overhunting."I certainly don't want them to kill any other animals," she said. "If he pays $25 each, these people are so desperate that there won't be any more coyotes."

Two Massachusetts Eastern Coyotes at their den site

Eastern Wolf in Algonquin Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada

Aldo Leopold--3 quotes from his SAN COUNTY ALMANAC

"We abuse land because we regard it as a commodity belonging to us. When we see land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and respect."

Aldo Leopold

"A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise."

Aldo Leopold

''To keep every cog and wheel is the first precaution of intelligent tinkering."

Wildlife Rendezvous

Like so many conscientious hunters and anglers come to realize, good habitat with our full suite of predators and prey make for healthy and productive living............Teddy Roosevelt depicted at a "WILDLIFE RENDEZVOUS"

Recent Posts

Blog Disclaimer

This is a personal weblog. The opinions expressed here represent my own and not those of my employer. In addition, my thoughts and opinions change from time to time…I consider this a necessary consequence of having an open mind. This blog is intended to provide a semi-permanent point in time snapshot and manifestation of my various thoughts and opinions, and as such any thoughts and opinions expressed within out-of-date posts may not be the same, nor even similar, to those I may hold today. All data and information provided on this site is for informational purposes only. Rick Meril and WWW.COYOTES-WOLVES-COUGARS.COM make no representations as to accuracy, completeness, suitability, or validity of any information on this site and will not be liable for any errors, omissions, or delays in this information or any losses, injuries, or damages arising from its display or use. All information is provided on an as-is basis.